Come new year, the people of Andhra Pradesh will have a bar at every street corner in urban centres with increased space. This is in tune with the aim of chief minister Naidu to allow night life become vibrant in the state. ‘Swarna Bar’ seems to have no effect on the state’s mindset.
Naidu’s pet theme in building a world class capital is to provide colorful night life for the investors who make the emerging capital Amaravati their destination. The excise and prohibition department seems to have borrowed the idea to extend it to the every street corner. The new bars licensing police, which makes it possible, will come into force from January 1, 2016.
Sources said in order to increase the number of bars in the State, the government had decided to allot bars by taking 2011 census into consideration.At present, allotment of bars is being done as per the age old 2001 census. Andhras deserve more bars as the state has recorded 10.98 p.c growth in the population between 2001 and 2011.
Currently there are only 770 bars serving the people in the State and if 2011 census is taken into consideration , the number of bars in the State would increase to some extent. The government is expecting to earn Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore as license fee from the new policy.
As per the grapevine , the State government has also decided to increase the sitting area in all bars in the State, so that more people could be accommodated in each bar. “At present most of the bars are run in 150 square meters of area in the State. The government has decided to increase the area to 200 square meters so as to accommodate more people in each bar,” said sources.
Presently, there are 4,380 liquor outlets, 3,029 permit rooms and 770 bars in 13 districts of the State. The current year license will expire on December 31 and the new policy will come into effect from January 1, 2016.
